When Bruce Arena took over as New York Red Bulls coach and sporting director in August 2006, he inherited a team in disarray with just five wins all season and seemingly destined to miss the playoffs.

But beginning on Aug. 16 with a 0-0 draw over MLS-leading D.C. United, Arena led the Red Bulls to a 4-5-3 record in their last 12 games. The Red Bulls qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the regular season with a 3-2 win over Kansas City.

Arena then came agonizingly close to getting New York past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in five years. The Red Bulls pushed D.C. hard before succumbing to an 86th-minute goal in the second game of the two-game series that put United through, 2-1, on aggregate.

Fast forward two years and the former U.S. national team coach now finds himself in very similar circumstances with the Galaxy, taking over a team as coach and general manager – at virtually the same stage of the season – that’s threatening to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year.

The Galaxy have just six wins all year and a mere 10 games left to haul themselves into the postseason picture.

Can Arena repeat that feat?

“That’s the goal,” he said. “In this league there’s not a big gap from top to bottom and I think a team that can get a couple of consecutive wins under their belts becomes a team with momentum and things change. We need to get ourselves on a little bit of a run where we start collecting points and position ourselves to get in the playoffs.”

Indeed, the Galaxy are just one point out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference and 10 points out of first overall in MLS.

If anything, the challenge with the Red Bulls was greater than it is with the Galaxy, Arena said.

“One of the differences is probably this roster is in a little better shape than the Red Bulls,” he said. “When you have Landon Donovan and David Beckham, you’re not that bad off.”

Of course, those two both play with their respective national teams Wednesday and are unlikely to be on the field Thursday against Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire, while Carlos Ruiz likely will miss the game for the same reason, too.

Time is the very thing Arena doesn’t have, but it’s what the Galaxy need most.

As the fourth Galaxy coach in the last two years, Arena will ask for what none of his predecessors were given – time to establish a coaching philosophy and perhaps most importantly, end the revolving door that has seen players picked up and discarded at an astounding rate.

Arena observed that the league’s most successful teams, such as New England and Houston, have been built meticulously rather than emphasizing unrealistic expectations over the short term.

That’s been obvious for some time to everyone except corporate owner Anschutz Entertainment Group, but perhaps Arena’s voice is one the company will finally heed.

“We’re going to have to be a little bit patient and do the right things every day to build this team where we want it to be,” he said. “We can turn this thing around. (AEG) realizes it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Midfielder Chris Klein, who received all his 16 national team caps while Arena was coach, is among those hoping AEG finally got the message.

“The thing that he brings is stability, and knowing him, he brings a winning mentality – two things we need right now,” Klein said. “Our objective right now is not to be the super club and take over the world. Our objective right now is to play a good game on Thursday and to build (from there).

“That sounds a lot different than what we’ve been hearing in the past where we’re looking to play Real Madrid this year and compete with them. No. This team has to get back to its roots. For right now, it’s about stability and getting this team to be able to play together so we can move forward.”

Of course, in the end, time was the one thing Arena didn’t have with the Red Bulls.

He was fired at the end of last season, not for having failed to take New York into the playoffs, but because he didn’t win the league championship.

And that’s the sort of organizational arrogance the Galaxy must resist if Arena is to break their pattern of failure.

Veteran journalist Nick Green is the beat reporter for the cities of Torrance, Carson and Lomita and also covers the South Bay's rapidly growing craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He has worked for newspapers on the West Coast since graduating in 1987 from the University of Washington and lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats. Follow him on Twitter @NickGreen007 and @BeerGogglesLA.